The white stripes on its abdomen made it look sort of like a large bald-faced hornet resting on the forest floor in the rain. But, that couldn’t possibly be correct: It was lethargic, Its face was entirely black, Its long legs had yellow barbs; It lacked a wasp waist; And what in the world were those yellow butterfly-like clubbed antennae?
Given the dim light, picture taking was problematic, but it was good enough for a partial identification. The insect was a sawfly of the genus, Cimbex, probably Cimbex americanus. A relative of ants, bees, and wasps, the short-lived adult lays its eggs in the leaves of various deciduous trees and then dies.
They are not often seen in the heavily coniferous forests around here.
A Cimbex sawfly sits lazily on the wet forest floor.
Thanks for the introduction to a critter never seen before to know at least!